I agree that product–market fit is non-negotiable. Where I differ is in the assumption that funding and PMF must be sequential. In healthcare, certain layers such as data systems, compliance, clinical operations need upfront investment simply to run experiments responsibly. From day one, we built around salaried doctors and full-time clinical teams, partnered closely with clinics and hospitals, and then progressively moved toward launching our own facilities. These are not things you can meaningfully pilot without capital, but they are essential to understanding whether a care model truly works in real patient settings. For us, raising early helped us validate PMF with far more depth, because we could test in real clinical settings rather than hypothetical ones. Capital didn’t distract us from PMF; it enabled a more rigorous, outcome-driven version of it.”
